Home Buyer Seminar

HOME BUYER ADVANTAGE WORKSHOP

January 2009

hosted by hbc services

Date: Wednesday, January 21st and 28th

Time: 5:30 pm

Location: Waukesha County Administration Building

Room 355

This is a 2 day seminar. I will be the guest realtor speaker on the 21st, and speaking with me will be a mortgage lender. On the 28th the speakers will be a mortgage lender and a homeowners insurance agent. Attendance at both classes is required to complete the course.

For many first time buyers, the mortgage you're obtaining will require you to take a homebuyer education course. This class meets requirements of most lenders. Along with homebuyer education, hbc services offers credit counseling, foreclosure prevention, and has government funded downpayment grants and assistance to qualifying buyers.

Classes are free to attend, however childcare is not available.

RSVP to Rose Sura at 262-522-1230

or

call me!

Huge Waukesha house for SALE

347 Delafield St.

Waukesha, WI

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Brookfield, WI

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Short Sales and Foreclosures: Why They Are Not Always The Best Deals

Very often I'll come across someone who'll request all the foreclosed properties I have access to. It's from my years of experience that I've found foreclosures are simply not the deal they are made out to be. Not, at least, to the person who's never experienced them before. The reason this market has so many foreclosed properties is because people could not afford their homes after they got into them. The taxes went up, the adjustable rate mortgages adjusted, other expenses went up, whatever their situation was. Below is the definitions of short sales and foreclosures, then I'll discuss why they are not always the best way to go:

Short Sales: A sale of a house in which the proceeds fall short of what the owner still owes on the mortgage. Many lenders will agree to accept the proceeds of a short sale and forgive the rest of what is owed on the mortgage when the owner cannot make the mortgage payments.

Foreclosures: When a homeowner defaults by failing to make payments on his or her mortgage, the bank or financial institution that holds the mortgage note may foreclose on the property. Foreclosure gives the legal ownership of a property to the bank to allow the bank to recoup its investment.

For a short sale, the owner still owns the property. Some downsides of buying into either of these are…. time. It often takes the bank a long, long , long, time to decide whether or not to accept your offer. They don’t play by the same rules as a 'normal' sale. They have their own rules, and if you don’t follow theirs, then forget about that house. It could take 2 months just to hear a response as to whether or not your offer is accepted. My typical ‘normal’ offer gives the seller 1 – 2 days to respond. And if a better offer happens to come in at that time…you won’t hear about your rejection until after they accepted the other one, which again could be 2 months.

Buying and selling real estate is a very emotional journey. When dealing with a bank-owner, you are a file on their desk. You also might need to take responsibility for fines that were assessed to the home. You could have a home inspection, but know that the bank won’t likely renegotiate. And finally, foreclosures are NOT this great deal of the century that we hear they are. They are often trashed, I showed one just this week that had 3 dead mice floating in the kitchen sink….. And most of all, the bank will still try to get fair market value. Occassionally, once in a blue moon, as lightening does strike and people do win the lottery, you might come across a great deal, but the 99% majority will not be.

September Homebuyer Seminar

La Casa de Esperanza will be hosting this month's HBC Service's Homebuyer Seminar.

HBC Services is a non-profit organization which offers credit and homebuying counseling, and has various government grants available to qualifying buyers.

This month's seminar is:

Saturday
September 20, 2008
9 am - 3 pm

This is a one day class. Speakers will include a representative of HBC Services talking about credit and how to decide if buying a home is your best financial move at your current situation. I will be the guest realtor speaker and will discuss the whole homebuying costs and procedures and what to expect and when. Other guests speakers will include a mortgage lender, home inspector, and an insurance agent.

This seminar will be jam packed with educational material for whatever stage of homebuying you are in. Seminars are usually held monthly, so if this date doesn't work out for you, please check back for future dates!

To ensure you have a seat and materials, please RSVP to HBC Services: 262-522-1230. For information about HBC Services, visit their website at http://www.hbcservices.org/.

Mistakes Sellers Make

Sometimes sellers have their own ideas of what is right, what works, and what it takes to sell in this market. This is a list of just a few that I have run into:

1. Pricing too high. What I do for my clients when pricing their house is to pull comparable properties, not just properties in the neighborhood, or what they want for it, and I use the same addition and subtraction that an appraiser would use when setting fair market value. You are much more likely to get a full price offer on a house that's priced right than you are to get a low ball offer on a house that's priced too high.

2. Questioning the first offer. If there's one thing I've learned from my broker (who's been selling real estate for some 40 years) it is that the first offer is usually the best offer. It's likely from the person who's been out there looking and just waiting for their perfect house to show up.

3. Not responding to all offers. Sure a low ball came in, but what do you expect from a buyer in this market...that's what their programmed to do! Never be the one to let the negotiations die.

4. Using a stager. That's what you're realtor is for! I work with plenty of buyers, and I know what they notice, how they see it, what makes a room look usable vs cramped...let your realtor work for you!

5. Picking the wrong buyer. The highest bidder might not be the best one, especially when it comes to closing day and oops their not qualified after all! Your realtor will be familiar with area lenders and will know the signs of what to look for in qualifying a buyer.

Of course nothing is fool proof. But as you can see, using a well qualified realtor will lessen your chances of making a mistake by using their expertise in marketing, person skills, and knowledge in the closing of the deal. It pays to use a realtor!

Testing Potential Dangers in a House

When purchasing a home, you have the right to have a home inspection done. You do not have a right to certain testing, unless it's written in and agreed upon in the accepted offer. Some testing you might know beforehand, some the home inspector might recommend. These common tests are:

1) Radon
2) Lead
3) Asbestos
4) Mold

RADON is a colorless, odorless gas that seeps into the home from the ground, such as from a basement. There are radon mitigation systems to remove the gas from the home.

LEAD based paint was used prior to 1978, and can contribute to many health problems. A buyer, when submitting an offer, will need to either ask for the right to have this tested, or must waive their right to testing. There is a separate form that must accompany an offer to purchase on all homes built prior to 1978.

ASBESTOS This fibrous material was very popular in building materials but was banned in 1985. It is still found in many homes. Asbestos is dangerous when it's been disturbed, causing fine dust particles to enter the air.

MOLD The opinions vary greatly. Mold needs water and dampness to grow, and finding the source of the leak is something the home inspector can try to do.